Darkest nights
by KS Claw
Summary: AU: Based on a more twisted outcome of Mutation City. We follow the POV of the few struggling survivors as they each struggle with an inner demon chp. 1 edited!
1. Kathy: leader

DARKEST NIGHTS 

by KS Claw

Summary: Basically, it's an AU based on what has happened to MegaKat City after Viper took over in "Mutation City". First chapter from Kathy's POV, then one from Razor/Jake, then David, etc. etc. Disclaimer: Don't own this, don't own that, chars not appearing bla bla bla

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It is getting harder to find any places, that are not infected with those creatures. I look out of the broken window of what was once a penthouse apartment, down on the dark waters that are flooding the streets of what was once MegaKat City. Quickly, I duck out of view as I hear a faint buzzing in the distance.

Mosquitos..._his_ giant mosquitos...

They are like the KGB, or the Nazi's from Megawar II...they seek out the target, strike, then leave again before anyone can react. In the beginning, it was difficult to hide from them, because we where so many bundled up together, like flies on sugar. But now we are spread out, so very far from each other. And I know we are becoming fewer by each day...

As the mosquitos have now passed, I dare look out again. They are far away now, the buzzing from their wings disappearing in the distance...absently, I turn away from the broken window, feeling a chill as a ghastly wind blows past, making the leftovers of a curtain blow gently around like a veil for a wedding-dress. Slowly walking through the dark, I come out to what used to be a bathroom. Clean water that is not affected by the mutagens is so hard to get by these days...The best you can get is collected from dew or rain, and even that is difficult. Like now, where it has not been raining the past 10 days...

Looking up, I see my face in the cracked mirror on the wall. My eyes, once seeming to shine like emeralds, seems to have dimmed into a sad kind of algae-green. In my black hair, there are streaks of grey, and fine webbings at my eyes show how stress has done it's work on me. My ears perk up as I hear a noise and alert, I turn my head. Automatically, my hand jerks down to the Desert Eagle by my side, but I retract it in relief when hearing a faint whistle...

"Kathy?" A voice gently calls out. Now I know it's Jake...

Slowly, I go out and smile to him in the dark, and he tiredly smiles back, one arm clenching around a bag.

"Jake, I was getting worried..." he shakes his head in response, and as I have come over to him to help with the bag, he gently puts a hand on my shoulder.

"Nothing to worry about, Kathy. Nothing happened..." when he uses that kind of tone, I know he is lying to me. Frowning, I look him over, then note a dark stain on his leg. He is clad in his old G-suit, that is ripped and torn so many places that I can't tell what is old and what is new of damages.

"You're bleeding." I state, not in a panicked voice like I had it once, some time ago. He shakes his head again, putting the bag on the floor. From the scrambling inside of it, I can hear the sound of conserves and glass.

"It's nothing." he says again, tiredly. In respond to that, I grab him by his arm and drag him firmly to the nearest chair, making him sit down before leaving the room. Returning with a first aid in my hands, I kneel down and rip in the fabric.

"Kathy, don't. It's not..."

_SHHRRRRIIIIIP_

"...Necessary..." he sighs, exasperated. I ignore him, looking over the damage.

He has gotten a deep cut from something, but I can't tell if it is from thorns or claws.

"What happened, Jake?" I ask him as I soak a clean clothe in the box with some antiseptic before pressing it against the wound to prevent infection. With a slight hiss and a wincing, Jake finally complies.

"T-bone happened..."

Startled, I look up at him in disbelief. None of us have heard of T-bone, or Chance as he was also known as, since...since the past 5 years where this madness has been reigning in the city...Jake sits now, one hand tiredly supporting his head as he rests it against the arm of the chair.

"He surprised me as I was collecting the cans...he moved so silently, I didn't know he was there until..." he shook his head before motioning to the wound. I nod once.

"Until he attacked..."

He nods again.

The rest of the treatment is done in silence, except for a sharp gasp from Jake when I tighten the bandage, the soaked clothe with antiseptic with no doubt stinging badly. Pain before pleasure someone once said. I can't remember who anymore, and it doesn't matter. Culture such as TV, art or litterature is wasted in MegaSwamp City.

Jake sighs as he leans back in the chair. I can see he is exhausted and the blood he has lost doesn't help either. I look up hearing a door open, and see the feminine form of Callie in the moonlight that slip in through the window. Her eyes blink tiredly, dark shadows below them showing clearly how much she has slept.

"Jake? What happened?" she asks, eyeing the bandage on his leg. He stands up, saying nothing. I stand up too and give him a nod. "Get some sleep Jake. You'll need your strength for tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" he asks me weary. I only nod darkly.

"We will have to find a more safe place tomorrow night. At noon." From old experience I have learned that very few of the creatures in the remains of this chaotic metropolis, can't handle being in sunlight, thus making it safest to move at high day. "The blood from your wound will no doubt attract some of his creatures... we can't risk that." Jake nods, common sense showing in his amber eyes. "Yes..yes of course..that's right..." he muttered, before slowly heading past Callie, ears drooped in fatigue, his tail almost dragging. Callie frowns as she watches him, then turn and look at me.

"What was that all about?" she whispers, as if she was speaking to a holy goddess and not just me, a normal she-kat like herself...then again, I can seem difficult to trust, as we have only been in companion-ship of eachother for almost 2 years.

"He had a clash with T-bone." I answer before returning to my previous position at the window. My watch is not over until the moon touches the top of the enormous tree that used to be MegaKat Tower. He made it his headquarters when he was sure everything was his...from there he gives his commands, and from there he sends out his troops to patrol for perfect test-specimens for his sick experiments.

I hear Callie gasp softly at my news, before she with a stupified expression sits down in the same chair Jake raised from a minute ago. She shakes her head slowly in disbelief, before looking up at me, her jade-green eyes worried and upset. I try to ignore it. In the times we have now, it's no use being soft and weak. I have learned it in many a hard way these past few years...

"...Why are you up anyway?" I ask out of nowhere. "You should be sleeping."

Callie shakes her head, her blonde hair waving gently as much as it can. It has been cut short, like my own. Else it would hang on to something and you could get caught.

"Couldn't sleep..." she mutters softly. I look at her, a twinge of pity coming to surface as I look at her.

"Nightmares again?" I ask softly. She only nods. It has been like this for as long as I've known her. I remember one of the first nights she and Jake was with me and David. She had started screaming in her sleep and I came running at once, gun out and ready to fire. I remember how angry I got about this false alarm..I had grabbed her and shaked her angrilly by her shoulders, sneering to her how she should wake up and stay quiet or we would be found by Plantimals or something worse.

The moment she woke up, her eyes staring wide and frightened into my own furiously narrowed, she had broke into tears. I darkly told Jake that if she would make a such noise again without a reason, I would leave her behind without hesitation. He only looked mournfully at me as he comforted Callie, David saying nothing. He had gone to the nearest window to check out for any unwelcome guests.

"You need your strength Callie. You haven't slept properly the last 3 days." I tell her, knowing that she knows it's all too true. She shakes her head tiredly with a sigh, resting her head against her arm. "I know...it's just..." she sighs again, squinching her eyes shut with a mournful expression. Slowly, I stand up and walk over to her, kneeling down on one knee, forcing her to look at me.

"Callie. It's been 5 years now. There has been no sign of change, and you know it." I say calmly but with a stern undertone, like a parent about to tell it's child that there has never been any Santa Claus. She looks up at me with a dark almost angry expression, but I do not withdraw my hand on her shoulder.

"As long as there is life, there is hope..I know something good will happen..." she says stubbornly

"Like what?" I respond sharply. "Like the city turned back into what it was? Every kat and every plantimal returning to what they were before all this?" I gesture with myhand towards the window, where the view of the moss, vine and plant-covered buildings and water-flooded streets are clearly seen in the light of the full moon.

"Or T-bone becoming what he was before that leech bit him?" I finish, my eyes darkly narrowed. She looks like I had just slapped her hard across the face. Then with an angry sound, she suddenly stands up, glaring at me with lighting glimpting furiously in her green eyes.

"You don't know anything!" she barks at me. "You know nothing about how it is for me! How that everytime I close my eyes, I see him! I see him turn into that...that thing for my very eyes...how he looks at me, like...like.." half of her words become unclear in her furious sobs of anger. Stress, sorrow and insomnia claims it's prize slowly, as I look at Callie's sobbing and shivering form. Slowly, I raise to my feet and put my arms around her, and she clings to me like David clinged to me once in a time that seemed like a forgotten dream.

Softly, I stroke my fingers through her hair as she cries into my shoulder, soaking the fabric of my shirt with her salty tears.

"Get some sleep. Empty your mind before you fall asleep." I say to her softly, before I gently lead her back to the bedroom. David is sitting up in his sleeping-spot, yawning as he's waking up. It's his turn to take watch I vaguely note, as I cast an absent glance behind me, noticing the position of the full-moon. Slowly, I reach down and withdraw the Desert Eagle from my belt and hand it to the kitten as he comes over to me. He takes it, slowly as if it was the finest china instead of a deathly weapon. Then I lift a hand and ruffle my fingers through his black hair slowly before sending him a vague tired smile. He returns it before heading for the spot by the broken window, to begin his part of the watch.

In the distance, I can hear the sound of screeching. Most likely plantimals in a quarrel about a prey. Then I watch as Callie has curled up in her sleeping- bag on the floor, her eyes open and non-seeing. As I pass her, she casts one glance at me before closing her eyes, excaustion finally kicking in. I go to my own sleeping-bag that lays messed up on the floor, and I stretch it out a bit before crawling down into it, shuddering slightly at the cold of it. I note on how heavily asleep Jake already is and I give a satisfied nod before laying down. They both deserve to rest. Both he and Callie.

As the moon slowly disappears out of the sky, and the sun slowly pours out it's magenta, rosa and orange colors, I feel myself drifting to sleep, knowing well how David will alert us all, should any unwanted guests appear out of nowhere...

Then as I close my eyes for the final time, I embrace the soft warm darkness surrounding me, giving in to the power of sleep...

TBC...


	2. Jake: Once a hero

DARKEST NIGHTS Chp. 2

A/N: Next part of the AU, from Jake's POV.

_Thoughts_

**_"remembered words/senteances"_** Recalled events, some quoted from episode, others fictional

--

The sun is warming my face as I listen to the water splashing at the edges of the raft. My eyes are closed as my hands are folded under my neck, and my mind slowly drifting between the space of being awake and asleep. I feel so tired... but not as tired as Callie is...

I pity her.

I knew how much she was in love with T-bone...Chance...I could see it deep in her eyes whenever she came to the garage to get her car fixed...sure, she'd say hello to me in a way that would leave my cheeks crimson for minutes, making Chance tease me like a big kitten. But I know it was all a disguise. They both loved eachother...but neither of them managed to tell the truth to one another, before it was all too late.

A sigh escapes my lips as I remember that horrible night 5 years ago...I remember Konway's words...

**_"Get the anti-mutigen at the MegaKat Biochemical laboraties...they are the only thing that can reverse this whole nightmare into one simple bad dream..."_**

Simple he said.

Yeah right.

"Jake, get up. It's your turn to paddle." a young voice sounds, small paws shaking me. A grunt escapes me, and I jerk up in sitting position, squinting against the sunlight above us. Callie is asleep next to me, curled up in fetal position. Kathy is standing in a paused position, the long oar held in her hands, and the calm and strategic look on her face, making me think of how an amazone holds a spear as she plans her moves before attacking in a battle. These years have changed her. In more ways than one.

"Jake." the voice sounds again, slightly impatient. I shake my head and slowly stand up, grabbing the long oar that David hands to me. He's grown so much that kid, despite how difficult it can be to find food. He is scrawny for his age, but tough and stubborn as well, a trait I dare think he has from both sides of his parents...

David sits down with crossed legs as I take my position by the rafts side, waiting for Kathy's decision. We have come to a sort of four-crossed space between the remains of what used to be 4 skyscrapers. Darkly, I note on how she is pondering which way is the safest... Somehow, she is better at this than I am. For Kathy, figuring out a safe path to steer the raft at must be the same as it was for T-bone to fly the Turbokat. I sigh at the thought. He was the master-pilot of us. The pilot...the stubborn...the impatient...and the best friend, partner and weapons-alley you could wish for...

He was like the older brother I never had...

I look at Callie once more, a pain searing in my heart as I once again recall that night 5 years ago...

_I told T-bone to follow as soon as I had gotten the Anti-mutigen tanks down from the wall. That way, he could help me when it came to getting those things back to Konway..._

_As I stalk through the water over to the door leading into the main laboratory, T-bone complains over how itchy the bite from that leech is. He stands scratching himself as I tell him to ease down, that all of this is soon over. Trying the doorhandle, I find it locked._

_"Locked.." I mutter before I with a low cry give the door a hard kick, and it springs open._

_"Unlocked!" I then grin before proceeding inside. T-bone follows on the water-sled, still scratching at his back..._

_"I think we're in luck, T-Bone. The anti-mutagens are still here.." I say as I wade through the water towards the large tanks. They're huge, but nothing that can't be handled easily with care. "Give me a hand..." A growling is heard behind me and I spin around. With a gasp, I can only stare horrified into the face of a creature that was once T-bone. Part of him still looks kat, while the rest is more like a plant and a frog. With a snarl, he pounces towards me, and I kick him off me before I fire a mini- octopus missile at him. He is instantly nailed to the wall where he struggles furiously, snarling and hissing._

_"I hate to do this buddy, but you're just not yourself..." I mutter darkly before I start to work on getting the tanks off the walls..._

I close my eyes and sigh before opening them again, looking at Kathy who is still planning the route.

"That way." She says, pointing down at what used to be an alley. I note on the many shadows down that way and frown.

"Why not a way where there's more light? Daylight is fading fast..." I follow her finger as she points at the way which I find the lightest...and I fall silent as my sight catches the gold-like glimpts from a yellowish puddle that lays spread across what was once a street.

I know instantly what it is. I've seen it many times in the past few years. Being a strange mixture of acid and mutagen (commonly known among any survivor who hasn't been mutated or eaten as Mutaxin) it can burn through any surface and mutate any living organism. I've seen what it can do to kats...

The first year of this nightmare, we somehow ended up dragging Steele with us. We had saved him from a bunch of plantimals, and even though he claimed he had fighted bravely against them, both Callie and I knew it was just to get on the good side of the former deputy mayor. In the beginning she had been so strong, but then...

**_"Save your breath, Steele! I am no deputy mayor anymore. What good is any kind of authority in this place!?"_**

I shake my head as I slowly start to paddle along with Kathy, down the more shadowed alley ahead of us. Kathy slowly clears the water ahead of us, brushing away plants with her oar to make sure no plantimal or Mutant is gonna be there, lurking on us. But only a few fish dash off swiftly into the darkness of the waters before the raft passes.

I take a brief look back at the Mutaxin before concentrating once again on my paddling, struggling to keep myself from remembering...

._..his screams as he was caught in the yellow-ish slime...part of his fur has already been dissolved by the acid and his eyes are wide, begging us silently to help him as his body is slowly sinking into the water, slowly mutating before our very eyes...we can only stand helpless and watch as he disappears in a mass of bubbles and foam, his screams silenced as his head goes under..._

"Hey look!"

Davids cry makes me snap out of it, and I gratefully follow his eagerly pointing finger, looking into the water and seeing a familiar form.

"Is that what I think it is!?" Kathy exclaims, for the first time in a long time having a surprised expression upon her face. David nods eagerly, his tail twitching eagerly. I note my own tail is twitching too, but I don't know if it is of excitement or because I feel anxious. "It's her alright. It's the Turbokat.." I hear myself say, shifting my weight sligtly to get a better look. I can see that the time has been as rough on the jet as much as it has on everything else. Through the water I can see how the canopy is missing, plants and mosses growing everywhere, from seats and control-panels to the engines and rusted wings and snout.

T-bone would have had a flip seeing his baby like this... I mentally chuckle. He would have in the old days before his mutation...before any of this...

"Come on now. Daylight is fading, so we can't spend it all on gawking at this." Kathy's rough tone breaks into my train of thoughts. A moment, I look at her, opening my mouth to argue for some reason...but I close it again as another thought strikes me cruelly.

_There is no SWAT Kats. Not anymore, you idiot. So why bother staying with the leftovers of the Turbokat? It's not like I can repair it in a few hours with a piece of chewing gum and a paperclip..._

I sigh as I return to paddling as we move on.

_To think..._

_Razor the wiseguy. The weapons-manager of the SWAT Kats._

_Reduced to nothing but a shaking tomkat named Jake Clawson, struggling each day for survival in a city we could have saved..._

_No. Quit it Jake. Nothing of this will help you or the others. Just concentrate on your current task and paddle on..._

The sun has started to go downwards, the sky glowing in bright red and orange colors as we find a seemingly suitable place to stay for the night. I stay behind with Callie who is now slowly waking up, watching as Kathy smoothly climbs up some vines on the side of a building. She has a blaster ready, just in case there are plantimals in this place. David is along with her, carrying a hunting knife between his teeth as he climbs, his hands and feet carefully and expertly finding a safe place to hang onto vines or the rough surface on the side of the building.

He watches as Kathy climbs in through a window. When she signals, he swings alittle in the vine he's holding onto, before leaping in through the window. I flicker my ear a moment as I along with Callie watch and wait...and wait...then Kathy appears and waves to us, signalling that all is clear and that the place is safe. Along with Callie, I gather our things and we both climb up the vines to the window, one at a time with our sleepingbags and our supplies. I am about to climb down again, when Kathy puts her hand on my arm and shakes her head.

"No Jake. Go inside and rest. I'll take care of the raft." I feel too tired to argue, so I can only nod and I slowly climb inside before Kathy leaps out, grabbing the vine like Jane in the jungle and sliding downwards swiftly to the raft. I look around in the apartment, and a single thought comes to my mind as I see it. Retirement apartment.

The simple furnitures, the tapestry on the walls with the flowers and the old black-white and color-photos on the walls of kittens, groups of kats gathered at a celebration of some kind, and finally an old wedding- photo...oh yeah. Definately retirement apartment. Callie is standing, tiredly looking around, and I can hear David shuffle around in the kitchen, probably being told to look for something that is still edible. A few minutes later he emerges with a triumphant grin, showing what he has found.

"Look! Pineapple and peaches!"

Callie looks at me, and I return the look, both of us smiling. As Kathy joins us a few minutes later, after having gotten the raft well-hidden under a blanket of mosses and various other plants close to the wall, we settle down to eat...

--

_...We can only stand, horrified by what has just happened, the goldish glow of the Mutaxin gleaming evilly against us. Then without a warning, the surface bursts into more bubbles, a deformed and claw-like hand shooting out of the bubbles, grabbing Callie by her ankle._

_She shrieks as the face of who used to be Steele appears out of the myriad of bubbles, eyes ghastly white with no pupils, the deep-orange fur now dark- green plant-like skin. The creature opens its mouth and lets out a horrifying sound, like a tortured soul from the deepest pit of Hades. Desperately, I lunge out and grab Callie by her arm and try to pull her out of the creatures grip. Then suddenly..._

**_BLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAMBLAM_**

A loud gasp bursts out from my mouth as I sit up straight and a moment I sit, breathing heavily as I stare blankly out into the dark. Then with an excausted muffled sound, I fall back with closed eyes again, still panting.

"You OK?" a voice sounds. I open my eyes again and turn my head, seeing Callie. She looks drowsy which means she has been sleeping. Good.

"I'm OK.." I sigh, rubbing my face with one hand. "Nightmare...'bout Steele..." I don't need to open my eyes to see the shudder going through Callie. She remembers it as well. All too well.

"Three years by now..you'd think I'd be over it..." she sighs, briefly touching her ankle. I know that beneath the fabric of her pants, there are scars...scars from the acidic touch of the creature that was once Steele..who is now dead and has probably rotted away...the mere thought of this image causes a shiver to bristle up and down my spine.

"Jake?"

"Hmm..?"

"Do you...do you think..this will ever come to an end...at all?" I look up at her, knowing I have a soft, sad expression upon my face. Then I slowly shake my head from side to side. "Not by chance...or by miracle..." She says nothing. I can somehow tell, that all she wants to do now is cry. But somehow, the tears are stuck inside of her, making her heart break slowly apart. An awkward silence emerges between us, neither of us knowing how to go on. Then...

"Where's Kathy?" I ask.

"Out looking for food, I think...David's on watch..." she responds. I nod.

"Do you..."

"Do I what, Jake?"

"Do you..." a small chuckling sound escapes me. "Do you remember our first night with Kathy and David? After we had told Kathy..about your nightmares..? How David was to be on watch..and I insisted on being with him...?" A smile emerges on Callie's face and she nods.

"Yeah..because you didn't think he was capable of handling himself. Being only seven years old and all..." this makes us both chuckle.

"Let's get back to sleep." I say softly, and Callie nods before laying down again, curling up in her sleeping-bag. I watch her as she falls asleep, feeling how sleep is slowly crawling back into my own mind, and along with that the dreams..the nightmares...the memories... Callie looks so vulnerable, as she lays there now fast asleep...she looks like a child, a little girl having just been tucked in after being comforted from a nightmare...I turn over, facing the wall I'm laying next to, and I hear myself sigh before closing my eyes.

_T-bone...Chance...brother..._

I find myself wishing that I had been the one mutated instead of him...instead of my best friend...my brother...Callie would feel safer I'll bet...and she would be with the kat she truly loves...she loved us both in a way...but the one she had her heart set on was Chance and T- bone...both of them...

_Chance..._

_If only..._

TBC...


	3. Meanwhile in Washington

DARKEST NIGHTS chp. 3

A/N: In a normal story-mode instead of someones POV. Kudos to C.L Furlong who gave me alittle help with the biological explanation from Feral. --

Night had fallen across what used to be MegaKat City. Here and there, mutated creatures that used to be a common animal like a frog, a toad, a leech or a snake, had long ago been turned into a being you only see in your nightmares. Having a ghastly white light to some where it was disgustingly green due to the eternal fog hanging above the waters, it's ghostly fingers crept through every inch and corner, bone and flesh, the moon gazing tiredly down over the once so great metropolis. And had the moon been given a personality, it would have felt grief for the few survivors, struggling each and every day to keep themselves alive. And each and every day, one or more survivors would fail their struggle and become a part of what was known under one common name in all of the United States of America.

MegaSwamp City.

Somewhere else however, as far off as Washington D.C., a conference of various characters was occuring. Several kats where gathered in a large circle in a large conference room, everyone having a quarrel everywhere, almost on the edge of attacking one another in their various disagreements. A black kat stepped up on a podium and cleared his throat, tapping the microphone to make sure it was working. Clearing his throat again, the voices of every other kat in the hall silenced down.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Commander Feral of former MegaKat City."

No one spoke as Feral stepped up on the podium. Everyone knew what had happened to him, but they where still taken aback by what they saw. Five years had taken their rough toll on the Commander of the Enforcers. Dark shadows lay heavy below his eyes from many a sleepness night, and a light- brown scar from a plantimal went from his left ear and half-way down to his cheek-bone. He had other scars, both mental and physical, but now was not the time to show either of them. Grey stripes where lined through his hair that due to the five years of little proper hygiene was long enough to be tied in a ponytail.

Calmly, he looked around on the crowd before him and cleared his throat before leaning forward to speak into the microphone:

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I thank you all for coming here tonight, to listen and understand what has happened to MegaKat City...As you all already know Dr. Viper has succeeded in a scheme he has planned ever since Elrod Purvis deceased, and caused by the Vipermutagen #368, mutated into the psycopathic reptilian kat we know as Doctor Viper..."

The large room darkened, and a soft humming sound purred through the air as a large white screen rolled down. The kat who had introduced Feral pressed a button on a remote, and a photo of Elrod Purvis and Doctor Viper showed. Feral scowled slightly as he looked at it, before turning back to the microphone. There, he noted a kat hold up his hand with a frown on his face. With a nod from Feral, he stood up and cleared his throat.

"Commander Feral, may I ask how it could be that Elrod Purvis turned into this...thing?"

Feral breathed a deep sigh before answering; "As Biology and Chemistry has never been my strongest point, I can only give you a few facts of what Doctor Norton Zyme told me, after our first encounter with Viper...

"Elrod Purvis intented to steal the Vipermutagen #368 in order to sell it on the black market. Dr. Zyme who had forgot his reading-glasses, returned to the laboratory and found Purvis in the process of the thievery, and proceeded to chase him to stop the crime. Purvis somehow tripped down a flight of stairs and the container with the mutagen was smashed, the contents spilling over Purvis. Being with all kinds of katalysts, the shock to Purvis' nerve-system was too great, causing almost instant death. However, the mutagen also had a sort of strong side-effects.."

"In what kind of way?" The reporter asked, writing a few notes on his notepad. Feral licked his dry lips a moment before continuing.

"Well, as I previously said, Purvis spilled the Viper Mutagen #368 over him when he attempted to steal it. I'm no biologist, but I don't think it needs one to understand that the chemical compound infiltrated through Purvis' skin pores and entered his system. From that point on, we can only guess what actually happened. According to Dr. Zyme, who later discovered the compound had mutagenic properties, the Viper Mutagen #368 must have made its way through Purvis' skin pores, penetrating the interstitial spaces and, eventually, accessing his nervous system network. From there, it must have worked fast, controlling the local nerve endings and quickly reaching the brain. Systemic shock came within a few seconds, rendering all of Purvis' systems virtually inert. It even fooled the pathologist at City Morgue, who declared Purvis's clinically dead. The next thing we know, according to the Morgue attendant, Purvis' corpse literally rose up from the long drawer a few hours later. Even by Megakat City's standards, that was odd. But still odder was what we found in the drawer. Filled with a green sticky slime, the dried out and hardened skin of Elrod Purvis was found. It was ripped in half as if something had come out from within."

"Doctor Viper!" - the reporter completed.

"Precisely. Apparently, during the hours in which Purvis was unconscious, a cascade of biochemical events was taking place inside Purvis. Again, accordingly to Dr. Zyme, Purvis' brain started sending out electric signals to all of Purvis' cells. The cells became overwhelmed by the signals they were receiving. Somewhere during their cell cycle, they stopped inspecting the status of their DNA. This was the first step towards the transformation. Once the cells' defensive mechanisms were disabled, the other step of the biochemical cascade took place. The brain started sending other electric signals. Those were now meant to open the cell membrane pores of every cell in Purvis' body. When this was accomplished, the mutagen, which, in the meantime, had spread to the bloodstream, could access all of Purvis´ cells. The mutagen entered the defenseless cells, dispersed throughout the cytoplasm and finally entered the nucleus through its pores. Once inside, the mutagenic molecules attached to the DNA double strand and quickly started mutating it, switching on some genes that were dormant and deactivating other genes that were active. The result of such modifications on Purvis' genome is well known of us all."

Mutterings sounded throughout the gathered crowd. Feral took the chance to take a sip of the glass with water on the podium. Another kat raised a hand and Feral nodded to him.

"How could it be, that neither the Enforcers or the SWAT Kats could stop Viper from his scheme?"

Feral closed his eyes and sighed. "When Viper first attacked the city, we had no idea what was going on. Everywhere, the streets where flooded, normal plants and trees where turning into horrifying mutations, and normally small and harmless things such as snakes, toads and leeches had grown a tremendous size. We got a hold of a giant frog, and Doctor James Konway, who I lost contact with somewhat almost 3 months after the start of this catastrophic event, found that we could stop this if we used a special anti-mutagen that was stored in some tanks at MegaKat Biolaboratories. Mayor Manx ordered the SWAT Kats to go get it, even though I had adviced him not to do so. Something went wrong, and the SWAT Kat known as Razor was left to fight Viper alone, when he turned into a enormous Godzilla-like creature. Unfortunately, Viper was far too strong, and the SWAT Kat was defeated...and now, ladies and gentlemen, Viper rules what used to be MegaKat City."

A mumbling and whispering filled the entire room once more. Then, a strict looking kat stood up and regarded Feral with a dark, frowning face. "Well then Commander Feral. Why have you come here, exactly? Why should we care about some lunatic and his plants!?" Feral glared at him darkly before answering.

"The defenses failed, and we were unable to stop Dr. Viper. Many innocent lives were lost...even the ones close to me..."

He sighed. "My niece, Lt. Felina Feral, did the best she could when the SWAT Kats failed. She brought katizens to safety and she fought against various mutations. But she was taken down by the socalled Mutaxin." More mutters sounded from the crowd.

"The Enforcers crumbled, the SWAT Kats were lost...and I...lost my niece...The katizens that I left behind desperately need your help, and that is why I am here." Feral finished off. "If no one is willing to send a rescuing team into the city, I'm afraid there's no hope for whoever is still alive in that horrible place." Nothing but silence met him this time. Feral closed his eyes once more and quietly took a deep breathe.

"Thank you for all the information, Commander Feral." The black kat said gently, putting a hand on his shoulder. "General Marsh from Pentagon has retreated to a closed meeting and will soon give you a message about his decision..." Feral said nothing. He tiredly retreated to a chair where he sat down, cautiously taking a few sips of his glass of water as if afraid it was just as infected as the waters of the nightmare-ish metropolis he had struggled to survive in the past few years. At one point, he just stared into the glassy surface, as if hoping to see something in there...or someone, other than his own reflection.

--

They where all gathered around the table. 8 chairs. 2 at each end, 3 by the sides. While they where about the double of the amount of chairs. The high generals, with General Marsh seated at one end and with Admiral Hutson seated at the other end. Around them where sergents, lieutenants and captains, eagerly listening to the minor debate among their superior officers.

"Do we have anything new on this 'Mutation City' case?" Admiral Hutson asked calmly, his steel-grey eyes rested upon the 4-starred General at the other end of the table. Marsh gave a harsh nod and pushed a folder in front of him so that it skitted across the table, past the other generals and captains at the table. The Admiral picked up the folder and began to flip it through as Marsh began to speak.

"The situation is slowly getting worse. Our satellites have followed the city's "movements" and it seems that it is slowly, but surely-"

"Growing." Admiral Hutson finished, his brow furrowed as his eyes where darkly scanning across the papers and photos of the city seen from above, as far as outer space. Marsh nodded slowly, nervously fidgeting with the buttons of his sleeves.

"It is as we feared...Dr. Viper is not content with just MegaKat City...that, or he doesn't care..." a 3-starred general, Jonah Simons, said quietly. "The President is also concerned about this..."

"Do we have his permission?" Hutson interrupted calmly, turning his gaze to Simons who nodded. "Yes sir, we have complete permission to send in SWAT Teams to rescue the few survivors that are left...about 3 teams with 9 members each should be enough." "And if all else fails?" Simons clenched his hand and pointed his thumb down at the wooden surface of the table.

"If all fails, we're allowed to fire missiles off and blow that Monstropolis from here to Kingdom Come."

--

"I have to WHATNOW!?" Feral bellowed, jumping up from the chair he had been seated in. General Marsh stood calmly, arms crossed and tail swishing patiently from side to side, unaffected by the other kats outburst.

"We want you to join one of the SWAT Teams we're sending into the city...Ulysses, you know the city well enough to be a guide..."

"I am not gonna do it.." Feral snapped coldly. "You don't know what I have been through, Jack..." He added in a quiet hoarse whisper. Marsh sighed and walked over and placed a paw on Ferals shoulder. "Ulysses.."

"No!!" Feral growled, brushing the other kats paw off him. "I thought I told you Jack. I am not going back...I can't go back..." he turned away from the general and walked over to the nearby window, looking at the skyline of Washington. "I have failed enough already..."

"Failed!?" Marsh replied with a look of disbelief. "You have anything but failed, Ulysses!!" The large brown kat turned and glared at him. "Have I? If I had not failed, then why did I not manage to protect the few survivors I had gathered!? If I had not failed, then how come my niece isn't here with me, alive and well!? If I had not failed..." the last bit almost came out as a strangled cry and he sat down on the nearby bed, hiding his face in his paws. Stress of all that had happened caught up with him, and bitter tears escaped his eyes. Marsh sighed as he sat down next to Feral and comfortly put a paw on his shoulder.

"Ulysses...Felina did what she could by her own choice..."

"And she never learned to take no for an answer. That was her greatest mistake." Feral whispered. "She was your daughter, Jack...you should have been more strict to her..."

Marsh frowned sadly and looked away, saying nothing.

--

A/N: Looks like things are gonna be a blast, eh people? :cheesy grin: Anywhoo, be on the lookout for the next chapter! It'll take a while, but it should come soon!


	4. Callie: Messages in Dreams

DARKEST NIGHTS part 4: Callie: Message in Dreams

A/N: Here's next chapter, seen from Callie's POV.

-- --

_I can still hear the exploding sounds of bullets hammer against the mutated face of what was once Steele...in a mass of shrieks and blood, the clawed hand releases its grip around my ankle and sinks slowly into the murky waters. My heart races a hundred miles per second as I cling to Jake who pulls me away from the dangerous waters. Looking upwards, we see a shekat and a kitten, both with a rifle over the shoulder and uzi's with smoking barrels. The shekat smoothly strides down the root Jake and I are safely huddled up on, and stops by the edge of the water, glaring with a disgusted expression at the golden Mutaxin...she then turns her head and looks to us._

_"You OK? Did it infect you?" We both numbly shake our heads no. The kitten comes rushing down when the she-kat signals to him and he starts tending to my ankle. Despite looking so young, he seems very skillful in the medical ways. Only a short while later, my ankle is fully wrapped up in bandages._

_"I'm Kathy. This is my son, David." the she-kat says calmly. The kitten lifts a hand shortly to greeting with a single "hi"._

_"I'm Jake Clawson, this is Deputy-mayor Callie Briggs." Jake responds, taking the initiative as he stands up. He and Kathy are about the same height I vaguely notice, just watching things as they happen._

_"Former deputy-mayor, you mean." Kathy says calmly. "What good is a title in a place like this?"_

I wake up with a jerk. Gasping, I sit up and look around. Everything is dark, but that's no surprise as heavy drapes Kathy found in a closet has been hung up for the windows, so that plantimals won't get the idea of looking inside. Slowly, I crawl out of my sleeping-bag, feeling hunger gnaw at my insides like an animal in a cage...I grimace at the thought. Animals...have we been become that? No...I shake my head grimly. If we had become animals, we would all have lost our minds long ago, for not to mention that we perhaps would start acting like our ancestors, the great sabertooth beasts...

"You're up early." A voice says out of the dark and I spin around in shock. Then I relax seeing David. The kitten sits in a chair, legs curled up below him as he is cleaning a rifle. I say nothing. Instead, I turn to the supply- bag to find a little that can soothe my hunger. "Mom said we should cut our rations to one meal at a day." David says calmly, keeping his eyes on the rifle. I sigh in response and stop rummaging. If I kept going, he'd probably start scolding me like a mother scolds it's child for taking cookies before dinner. "It's OK." David adds as if reading my thoughts. "It shouldn't be too long. Then we can eat." I say nothing. I walk away from the bag and settle in a worn armchair next to what used to be a TV. There, I huddle up and hug my knees to my chest, staring blankly into the half-darkness of the room.

"You can help me clean some of the rifles if you like." The kitten says, looking at me with his bright green eyes. "It's not too difficult and it's done faster with 2 persons." I shake my head slowly.

"No...it wouldn't be faster...I can handle a rifle, but I can't figure out how to clean it..." I sigh. David shrugs before returning to the rifle in his hands. He knows I could easily learn it, but after an incident with a plantimal I had trying to handle my gun while it was jammed, both Kathy and I decided it was best we let those who can figure it out better handle it...Then I suddenly remember that the room was empty when I woke up.

"Where's Kathy and Jake?" I look to David, frowning worried. "They weren't there when I woke up..."

"Mom is out looking for food. Jake is overlooking the raft for damages and such." David responds, looking into the barrel of his rifle while lighting down in it with a flash-light. I nod slowly and sigh. He looks up at me and frowns. "Callie, it's not like mom doesn't think you can't handle it..." I shake my head and sigh again.

"I know David...it's just..." I cross my arms over my knees and stare out in the dark again.

"You're worried you'll meet him, aren't you?" he asks quietly. I know who he is talking about and I nod with a pained look on my face. None of us say anything the rest of the time. I don't know how much time has gone by, but suddenly the drapes are pulled aside and Kathy comes in with a leatherbag over her shoulder, grinning big. "I got jackpot!" She exclaims in triumph, showing the bag. "I found several cans in an empty apartment not far from here. Beans, corn, peas, and lots more! I took what I could carry, but there's more where it came from!" David and I both nod, and while David looks excited I just like the thought of getting something to sate my hunger with. When Jake joins us about half an hour later, after he has made a few repairs and modifications, we finally settle down to eat. I don't know why, but I'm hungry like a wolf! None of the others say anything until Jake asks Kathy if we are going to move anytime soon. Kathy shakes head head.

"No." She says calmly, after she has swallowed a bit of some canned pineapple. "We will stay a few more days. Then we go to the apartment where I found all those cans and gather as much as we can have with us and move on." We all nod. Deep inside all of us, I know we're glad that Kathy is our leader. She's the strongest of us...

-- --

_I have somehow gotten away from the others, and even though I look for what seems like hours, I can't find them anywhere...in the end, I curl up on a root and hope they will find me before something else does..._

_"Callie..." I look up and I gasp at the sight. T-bone..Chance..is opposite on me, on another root, his G-suit ripped and torn. His mask is off, and I can clearly see the sorrow and regret in his eyes._

_"CHANCE!" I call out. I jump out into the water, not caring what might be there. I just know that I have to be with him. It's been too long...Chance watches me as I swim towards him, and when I get close enough he reaches out, and pulls me out of the water. Tears of happiness erupt from my eyes as I feel his strong arms around me and I hug him tightly, burying my nose into his chest._

_"Chance..oh Chance...I've missed you so much.." I hear myself weep, hugging him tightly. He gently brushes his claws through my hair and kiss my forehead as he holds me close. I know he's crying too, but I can't judge if it's of sorrow or happiness like myself._

_"I've missed you too, Callie.." he whispers softly, brushing the backside of his hand against my cheek._

_"Chance...how did you..how did you become..normal?" I whisper to him, looking questionally into his eyes. He closes his eyes and shakes his head. "I barely know myself..." he utters._

_"I only hope...that you can forgive me..."_

_"Forgive you...?"_

_"For this..." he sighs, motioning to our surroundings. "For failing MegaKat City...the SWAT Kats..."_

_"Chance.." I utter softly, holding his face in my hands. "You haven't failed...you couldn't help what happened..." he gently takes my hands and holds them gently and delicately between his own strong palms._

_"Callie...you don't understand. I failed when I could have done something...instead I let a small thing like my fear of swimming get in the way. I almost drowned, and a leech bit me, turning me into a monster..."_

_"Chance.."_

_"No Callie.." he says softly, letting go of my hands and turning his back on me. "It's no use...I failed everything and everyone...everything I ever believed in died for me that fatal night.." he turns his head, looking at me sadly._

_"And most of all, I failed you..."_

_I open my mouth to say something, but instead a scream escapes me. The water below us has started to bubble furiously, and the roots we're standing on are shaking around furiously, as if something is ripping into it. I feel myself trip and I fall backwards, screaming out his name..._

_"CHANCE!!"_

_He jumps to grab me, reaching out for me. But he doesn't succeed. Instead, I fall and fall and fall, hearing him call my name again and again..._

_"CALLIE! CALLIE!! CAALLIIIIIEEEE!!"_

"Callie! CALLIE!!"

I sit up with a jerk, feeling my body being shaked wildly. Jake is by my side, a gun in his hand, the other one having a grab in my shoulder.

"J-Jake? What-?" I gasp, putting on my glasses. Jake only frowns darkly and nod to the others who are swiftly packing their bags.

"We gotta get out of here. Now!"

"What is it!? What's wrong!?" Kathy looks over at me, an expression much darker than Jake's upon her face. "There's no time to explain. Just get up, pack all you can carry and let's get out of here!" All I can do is nod and do as she say.

A few minutes later, we are outside, clinging to the vines. Kathy is staring out in the darkness, listening. I don't know what's going on, but I have only been in a situation like this once before...

T-bone.

-- --

A/N: MWAHAHA!! Cliffhanger!!


	5. David: Emotional Spices

CHAPTER 5: David: Emotional spices

A/N: Davids POV, anything not seen in SK:TRS belongs to me etc. etc.

-- --

Mom once told me, that a persons emotions are like a spice. Each spice is with a different taste and each are with different sensations.

Especially the strong ones. Rage, hate, and fear.

She told me something more, but at this moment and in this situation, I can't remember it, the icy feeling in my gut keeping me from thinking clear. Part of me is screaming to run, run away from the danger approaching, to anywhere that's safer than here...

Then I see it. Its yellow eyes poke out of the water, blinking once...twice...then it dives again. I watch anxiously as the large mutated frog swim underneath the water, getting closer...closer...then passing...passing on...and heading off.

Tension is high between us all as we watch the frog swim off, disappearing around a corner. It feels like minutes have turned into hours before I hear my mom say the ever so calming words...

"Alright...it's gone. We're safe for now..."

For now, she says...I know only too well what she means. We've been through this for so long, none of us have a reason to argue against her. Slowly, almost feeling like flies in thick, melted caramel, we head back inside the apartment and start to pack the restoring supplies we would have left behind, had the frog decided to attack us.

I help mom pack some of the food we got, and Callie and Jake help eachother with some of the weapons. None of us talk as we have no reason to. Once, I would have asked hundreds of questions about all this...why did the frog come? Why didn't it notice us?

Why hadn't it attacked us?

Mom looks at me as I pack, as if reading what I'm thinking. Then without a warning, she reaches out and pulls me close, hugging me. I feel my fingers dig into her back as I return the embrace, which has always made me feel so warm and safe, despite our surroundings and our situation. Then the tears come as the late shock sets in. It comes as no surprise really, seeing as we've had similar kinds of emotional aftershocks like this the past few years, and more than once too...

Fear is the most powerful of the shock...then comes grief...you feel so miserable, you don't know what to do. That's when I'm grateful I got mom...and she's grateful she has me. We're all there for eachother, which is important for us. If not, neither of us would be alive.

-- --

It's my turn to watch tonight. I sit with a can with Kitty Cola from a Twelve-Pack we found in the apartment, looking out of the window, a rifle across my lap. The caffeine in the soda keeps me awake and makes me stay alert as well. I turn my head hearing the sound of the door, and Jake comes out. He smiles to me and I nod to him before he settles in a chair across from me.

"Hey.." he utters quietly before placing his own rifle over his knees. I only nod in response, standing up and going to the window, to see if we are getting any uninvited guests. "Any trouble so far?" Jake asks, carefully checking his rifle through to make sure it functions well. It has happened that when you find a weapon, the water of the swamp has easily made it defect by rusting the metal, washing away the oil or ruining the bullets. Energy rifles are even harder to cope with as they are impossible to reload. I slowly shake my head, my hair being long enough to be in a ponytail, gently wavering from side to side.

"Nothing new from the west-front." I know Jake smiles alittle at that one. A title from an old movie based on the horrors of MegaWar 2. Not too comforting to watch, but still wellmade enough to be enjoyed.

"Good." he sighs, leaning back in the chair. He's not showing it, but I can tell that his leg still hurts.

"Do you ever think we'll get out of here?" I ask quietly, looking out in the swamp atmosphere of the night. In one deep breath, I feel it as if I have taken everything in...the smells of fresh or rotting plants, the sounds of the beasts that haunt in the leftovers of this city, the deep and dark-green colors of the dark and poison-green fogs and orange waters... Even though I was 5 years old when all this began, I still remember the fresh, green and blue colors of the sky, the sweet smell of freshly bloomed flowers or cookies, and the sounds of birds singing, bees humming, other kids laughing and playing and the honks of horns from cars, their passengers listening to radios and complaining about the rush-hour...

"- ourselves.."

"Hmm? Sorry, didn't hear the last bit.." I say, turning my head to look at Jake. He shrugs, thoughtfully biting into his thumb-claw, a habit he has gotten lately which is a sign of him showing that he's thinking.

"I said: The best we can do, is not to loose faith in ourselves..." he then says, looking at me seriously with his calm, amber eyes. I just nod and settle back into the chair again, sipping of my Kitty Cola. the sticky, sugary liquid easily goes down my throat and into my stomach, where it'll later head for my bladder, getting cleansed into urine...blah. The mere thought of the anatomic lessons I read about in a biology-book I found makes me put the sodacan on the floor. But its unavoidable. In this environment, all one can do is to be prepared...a wound from a plantimal can mean so many things...

Fleshwound, death or mutation. The last one definately not recommended.

We both look up sharply as short sobbing cries turn into a shriek of despair. One of Callie's nightmares again. I remember how angry mom got the first time this happened, until Jake told her what was wrong. Soon enough, it has all quieted down to a quiet sobbing. Mom is no doubt taking care of Callie now, making sure she'll calm down enough to sleep again. And without dreams this time.

"Do you think she'll ever be OK?" Jake asks quietly. I frown slightly...granted, the past 5 years have matured me to beyond my regular age, but it's still odd to receive questions that are better for a wiser adult to answer. Still, I breathe a heavy sigh and shrug slightly before continuing the inspection of my rifle. "I honestly don't know Jake...mom is getting worried about her. I suggested sleeping-pills, but you know..." Jake only nods and cast a tired glance at the door, before he returns to his own rifle.

I can't help but feel sorry for him. I don't know why...I have never met T-bone or Chance in his non-mutated form, but from what Jake told me he sounds like a pretty nice guy. A good pilot and a good fighter...big shame that he's on the wrong side in this case. We need all the fighters we can gather...to fight against the monsters in this place...for our freedom...and against my father.

I have always kinda known that Dr. Viper and my dad where the same person in one...mom always seem gibby when mentioning Viper, and I can't say I blame her.. I'd feel bad too if I had been married to a psycho, and no body but I knew that the same psyco had caused all this trouble... When I was little, I always kinda prayed to God that he would end all this...make things the way they where before the whole Mutation City thing...that way, mom would still have dad, T-bone would still be Chance, and Callie wouldn't be such a wreck...

But God stopped listening long ago.

"You should get some sleep." Jake says calmly, and I look to him before brushing hair out of my eyes. "It's not necessary." I respond. "I've only just started on my watch. You on the other hand.." I frown disapproving at the shadows under his eyes and his weary look. Tiredly, Jake manages to half-smirk at me. "You're almost worse than your mother.." he chuckled, slowly getting up from the chair he was seated in. "Almost." I only smirk back. "As long as you get some sleep, then you can be more fresh and alert for your watch." I say, watching him as he heads back to the bedroom. He just sends a half-smile at me and shrugs before going in through the door and closing it.

-- --

The moon has gone down now, and everything is so quiet, I swear I could cut the silence right out of the air with my claw, like a cube of jell-o out of a bowl. Nothing has happened on my watch, except that I've seen one or two cabbage-head plantimals or a few giant mosquitoes. But none of them have come close enough to notice me, and I haven't attacked them either. One of the first things mom taught me for survival. If they aren't attacking, you have no reason to do it either.

I'm feeling more or less tired and know it's best if I go wake up mom. My watch is done when the moon was gone, she told me. I yawn, almost yawning my jaws apart when hearing a sound from the room that used to be a kitchen. Quietly, I stand up and sneak towards the door, knowing that we have all our food there. If it's a plantimal munching out on our supplies, I might as well take it down. It could take ages for us to find new supplies.

As I get close to the door, I see mom open the door to the bedroom. I quickly motion for her to be quiet and she stops, listening. Then she too sneaks closer, a magnum in her right hand and a powerful flashlight in the other. For a moment, we stand completely still, listening to the sounds in the dark. Then we jump in through the door and mom aims the powerful ray of light against the dark huddled figure kneeling by our supply-bags. The figure gives a surprised yelp and scrambles backwards, hitting the wall with a thud, the cans in the supply-bag scrambling out on the floor, making enough noise to wake up a bear out of its hibernation.

The noise has alerted the others, and Callie and Jake comes running, both ready with their guns. "What happened!?" Callie asks, looking at mom who frowns darkly. "We got an intruder." I respond calmly. "Don't shoot! I am unarmed!!" the figure pleads. I can tell by the voice it's a female. A kat like us. A lone survivor who probably thought the supply-bags where free for the take. Jake frowns and squints in the dark before he takes the flashlight from Kathy. Turning it on, he gasps in recognition.

"Turmoil!!"

-- --

Ooh whatya think is gonna happen now, now that we got everyones most loved and hated female villain in the cast? g Wait for next chapter to find out!


	6. A monsters mind

Chapter 6: A monsters mind

A/N: And so here we got chapter 6 lads and gents. Enjoy people

--

The moon had vanished beyond the horizon, but the creatures that roamed through MegaSwamp City could care less. Somewhere, a large fish swam lazily through the dark waters on the search of something to eat, its tail swaying lazily from side to side as it circled around a large container that had once contained all kinds of trash, from banana peels to tuna-cans. Now it was the home of something else...

Without a warning, a webbed paw snatched out of the darkness, the claws digging into the fish and shoving it into a fanged mouth, before the owner of both surged upwards to the surface. There, the mutated feline that once been lt. Felina Feral crawled up on the edge of a roof, where she started to devour the fish, flesh as well as bones and intestines.

Indeed she was not what she once been. The niece of Commander Ulysses Feral, lieutenant of the Enforcers and protector of MegaKat City. She was something else. A victim to the Mutaxin. A mutated beast. A predator and a prowler, something being a cross between a kat, a snake and a frog.

A monster.

Snarling, Felina finished up the fish and started to groom herself, cleaning the gooey mess that had been the fish off her paws with a long forked tongue, once in a while stopping to scratch herself or gnaw at her hide. Something bothered her, but what it was she had no idea. Strange pictures kept appearing in her mind now and then. Pictures of kats that she had once known...some in strange, blue clothes...others in grey uniforms...and a third part flying these strange noisy things that reminded her of the Masters giant wasps or mosquitos, some of these things having a similarity to a dragonfly. Only not as glittery and pretty, and definately more noisy!

"Sssss..."

The sound made Felina jump up on all 4, the fur on her back rising in alert, her snake-like tail whipping around as she bared her fanged mouth and snarled. However, she calmed when seeing who it was. A green-scaled paw reached out and scratched her between her ears, and a sound emitted from Felinas throat, something sounding like a cross between a soft growling and a hiss. A contented kind of purring...

Master was good to her. Master was her friend...those where the signals that came from the petting and the cooing hisses resembling a sort of speech that only most reptiles could understand. Felina did not care though. She had long ago stopped listening to those strange voices in the back of her mind, telling her how her Master was her enemy, and not her friend. In the beginning, she had tried listening. But as time passed, and she had spent more and more time around in the mutated waters of the once proud Metropolis, she forgot to listen to the voices. And it seemed like the voices forgot her.

"Come my pretty...ssss..." Master cooed to her, and she gladly followed him like a puppy follows its owner. They walked, swam or climbed for a while until they where in different surroundings. Felina looked around unsure, a nervous growl escaping her. Around her where different cages, many of them containing a mutated feline or other sorts of creatures. Very few where un-mutated, and all where either Toms, Shekats or Kittens, many looking starved and frightened, others just curled up and staring emptily out of their prison. The Master waved Felina over to a table with all kinds of strangely colored beakers and she slowly followed. There, he brushed his claws through her thick mane of black hair, making her feel more safe, before he plunged a syringe into her side.

Hissing, she swiftly backed away, but the concoction had entered her system. Pain ripped and teared through her insides and she shrieked out wildly as she found herself rolling on the ground, everything in her body feeling like it was set on fire. Her back arched painfully upwards, straightening out as she the past 5 years had been nothing but a hunchback in her mutated form. Her large front paws slowly lost their webbing and the claws shortened to normal size before once again being the hands of a normal feline. The long reptilian tail and the frog-like hind-legs kicked and slashed around, as they too went through the transformation, which caused Felina to shriek out in pain, again and again and again until...

Finally, everything turned into darkness...

Doctor Viper smirked coldly as he witnessed the works of the Antimutagen. Good thing indeed that he had caught them before the SWAT Kats could do anything. He had been tampering around with the precious liquids for the past few years, ever since he had established himself in what was once MegaKat Towers. The reptillian kat grinned to himself as he looked at the now emptied syringe in his hand, before he catiously placed it in a special holder, before lowering it into an old aquarium filled with sterilizing, boiling water.

"Now, my pretty...We ssssshall ssssee if my work will bear the fruitsss of ssssuccessss..." He uttered, rubbing his scaly palms against eachother before lifting up the unconcious form of Felina and putting her in an empty cage. Inside from the neighbouring cage, a loud SNARL was heard before a large claw slashed after Viper. The reptilian calmly lifted a hand and caught the claw before it striked him, digging his own claws hard into the beasts' palm. A loud yelping sounded and the claw retreated back to the cage, a pair of green eyes glowing strongly and furiously as a large tongue tended to its owners paw.

"Now now, no need to be with sssssuch bad mannersss." Viper smirked as he closed and locked the cage. "You will be sssset free once you are willing to do asss I say. And get me what I want!" With that, he headed for a flight of stairs and headed upwards, to his favourite place in all of the tower. The very top of it, wherefrom he could view all of the city which was now under his complete control.

The plantimal who had once been T-bone, snarled as he watched Viper leave. Once the reptilian scientist was gone however, he looked to the unconcious form of Felina in her cage and frowned sadly...

"I'll get us both out of here Felina...I promise..." he whispered in a hoarse, struggling voice.

"I promise..."

Somewhere in MegaSwamp City, Kathy was dreaming...dreaming of her past life...a life she had been happy with. She had been married with the man of her dreams, given birth to a wonderful son...everything had been wonderful until...

Jake dreamt too. He dreamt of his academy days at the Enforcers...how he had met Chance...how they both had become like brothers to one another in their strong bond of friendship...the day they had become the SWAT Kats, in order to protect the city...

Only 2 of the group where not asleep. Callie lay awake, thinking...remembering...the time before Mutation City. What would happen to her...to the others...when..if..they ever got out?

David was on watch. He watched the others sleep and then turned his attention back to the outsides, staying out of view of stray plantimals and giant wasps or mosquitos.. He was only a kid, but his faith, self- confidence and stubborness was reflecting around him like an aura in the dark night. Had Kathy been watching him instead of being asleep, she would have seen a much younger image of the boys father. Elrod Purvis, who was now the ruler of this mutated Metropolis of MegaKat City. Doctor Viper.

-- --

TBC


	7. Tbone: My free will

CHAPTER 7: T-bone: My free will

A/n: Chapter 7 being T-bones POV. Nothing much else to say.

--

I don't know how it happened.

That I got my mind back, that is.

It all happened so sudden. I know I had been out hunting...and that I had returned to Vipers lair, gnawing on a fish I had caught. Unlike so many other fish, this one had not been mutated like alot of them are. When I finished eating, I went to sleep...

And when I woke up, I remembered who I was.

Viper somehow did not seem surprised. He laughed at me and bathed in his triumph. I was a SWAT Kat in a monsters body, he told me. And I would remain like that until he had worked out his plans for me. What kind of plans I wanted to ask? But even though he could tell I was aware of myself...there was no need to tell him of my ability to speak.

I always make sure to practise when Viper isn't there to hear me. I guess that, talking to myself, or trying to comfort the kats in the other nearby cages, keeps me from going completely insane. Along with speaking, it helps that I remember my past. The past week, I have thought out enough of my memories to publish 6 or 7 books about my life. I inwardly smirk as I can just see the title.

"My life: The memories of a mutant SWAT Kat."

Feral would have a hoot.

I hear a slight moaning and turn my head, seeing that Felina is waking up. She'll be slightly weak, but hopefully she'll recover. And her mind will be stable.

The other victims of Vipers "healing" have not been that lucky. He has tricked them into his lab, injected the anti-mutagens into them, and then locked them in a cage as soon as their transformation was over and done with.

Unfortunately, their minds have been too fragile to handle the pressure of the transformation, or it has just been far too late. For some kats, the instinct of the beast has been only so lightly skin-deep, that the effect of the mutation has only made it far too strong to quiet down once more, while others have just...broken. Maybe some day, like myself, they will find themselves...

Until then, who knows?

Felina moans once more as she turns over, rubbing her eyes with one hand before opening them. They widen as she sees her surroundings and she sits up with a gasp, then curses when her head impacts with the upperpart of the cage. Sure Viper has made the cages wide enough for plantimals. But not necessarily high enough.

"Felina..?"

She looks up and her eyes widen more, seeing me. I turn my head away as she is with no clothes at all. She has by instinct reached for a blaster that isn't there, and when realising why, she goes all crimson, and covers herself up as much as she can.

"It's alright, Felina. I'm not that kinda kat yaknow.." I utter. She blinks in shock and realization, before trying to say something...instead, she coughs alittle, grasping at her throat.

"Easy on it." I tell her softly. "It's probably been a while since you last used your voice"

Slowly, she manages to find her tongue and looks at me as if I am the first living thing she meets in an alien-world, and she has to be cautious around.

"T-bone...?" I only nod alittle, before shuffling around in my cage, then laying down.

"Kats..." I hear Felina utter. I say nothing. I'm just glad she didn't start screaming at me or something.

We both fall silent as we hear a sound. A furious shrieking and buzzing sound. Felina looks unnerved, but I keep my cool. I know what it is that lets out that sound.

Dr. Harley Street. The Ci-Kat-A.

I don't know how Viper found him, but one day he had him in his grasp, dragging him behind with his tail. It was while I was out of my mind...I remember I attacked the Ci-Kat-A as it tried to attack Viper when he released. Even with my mutated mind, I knew how to keep it in a grasp so that it was unable to bite me. I was even strongly tempted to rip out its throat with my claws, but Viper quited me down, and instead he had me drag it to a room where I threw the creature in. Before it could attack us, Vipers plant-wall "melted" down across the entrance, and the Ci-Kat-A is now trapped in that room until Viper says otherwise.

I explain all this to Felina the best I can, and for a moment she stares at me as if I'm crazy. Then she curls up and closes her eyes. I can tell she is still tired from the mutation and I leave her be.

-- --

The next time I wake up, it's morning. The light shines as much as it can through the many vines covering what used to be the large windows of the skycraper of MegaKat Tower. I think this used to be one of the main meeting- rooms, but Viper "redecorated" things, by tearing away the upper levels with his powerful plant-creatures. And with alittle extra katalysts and a few extra plants, he managed to recreate his tree...I have never really been there, one could only guess what his former lair looked like. But I can imagine something very Frankenstein-ish.

Felina is asleep in the neighbouring cage. I hope she hasn't tried to speak with Viper in hearing-range. It would only make things worse for any of us. Viper is up to something. But I just don't know what! He could be planning anything. Extending his territories, capturing what few survivors that may be around, or something third. The thought of it makes me uncomfortable.

Kats, I have always hated feeling helpless. That has always been the main switch in a fight for me. If things get too out of hand, and I know I must of all things not loose control. That's how I always managed to survive...to make the Turbokat fly again whenever we where in a tight situation, or forced to rebuild it from scrap.

I remember when I was in the Enforcer Military Training-camp. It was to help us get prepared for our first years as Enforcers. To toughen us up, to make us stronger, faster and smarter.

Had it not been for Jake, I would have broken down after 5 seconds.

Our trainer was a real bastard. A large, burly tabby, with splotches like a leopard, a tattoo with the number '666' on his arm and a toothpick in his mouth. Always dressed like he was in bootcamp and not in a military facility. But he was there nonetheless. He roared like a storm at us about what challenges we would face, what skills we would be tested in, and how our sanity would be scratched up like a worn yarnball.

But Jake was there, right beside me. He has always been there, ever since we first met in college. Once the trainer gazed in another direction, Jake mouthed to me 'we can do this! We'll nail the guy by his own tail!'. And I promised myself I would never let him down. Not him, not anyone, and espeacially not myself...

Slowly, I stretch out my enormous body as much as I can in the small space of the cage, yawning until I feel like my jaws are gonna be yawned apart. A growling stomach tells me I should go and find something edible, but that is kind of hard when you're trapped in a cage. Growling with frustration, I claw at the bars who withstand my assault. I would pace around if I had room to do so.

Seriously, you really can't work out your frustration by spinning 80 times around yourself like a dog chasing its tail. Believe me, I've tried!

-- --

A/N: Eheh, sorry about that last bit. I got in a dorky mood. Next chapter will be Felina's POV


	8. Felina: Dealing with the Devil

Chapter 8: Felina: Dealing with the Devil  
  
A/N: I have probably not mentioned this before but: I am danish, therefore danish and not english is my motherlanguage. I am good at speaking the language, but it happens my stories have a little thing called "typos". But here's the gig: I may write typos but not ALL of us can be Tamora Pierce or Anne Rice. Anyone who dislikes my stories - In the words of Inuyasha: KEH!  
  
-----------------------------------------------------------------  
  
I've always been called a tomboy. The stubborn one. I got my mothers looks and my fathers stubborness and pride.  
  
And the stubborness has always been my curse.  
  
I have always hated to be told that one word. That one specific word that tells you, you are not allowed to do what is fun. You can't do what you want to. You can't have a snack before dinner. You can't get your own room.  
  
No.  
  
It frustrated me to no end. From the earliest days of my childhood, it was "No" this and "No" that. It sickened me! I was more than happy when I got accepted into the Enforcer Academy. It meant I would get away from home. Far away from nagging family wanting me to act like a mature woman when I am what I have always been. A fighter. Mom could never accept that. Dad could somewhat, but he had his limits.  
  
A growl interrupt my thoughts and I look up. T-bone is standing in an awkward position in his cage, struggling with something. My eyes widen as I see whats going on. He's bending the bars in his cage!!  
  
"Nngggrrr...ssssssssss....." he hisses frustrated, his muscles straining. The bars are stubborn, but slowly, ever so slowly, they are pulled apart. More and more until...  
  
*CRACK*  
  
I can only stare with wide eyes as T-bone now manages to maneuver out of his cage and get over to mine. "You OK in there Felina?" I nod.  
  
T-bones fangs show as he grabs the bars of my cage and start to bend them, the muscles in his mutated arms tightening like thick ropes. I watch and listen eagerly at the same time should Viper or one of his non-caged creatures come around. I don't know how long it takes before I can finally slip through the bars in my cage, but all the while, my nerves are on needle-points. Finally, T-bone stops his task, breathing heavily. I carefully slip through the bars, wrigging slightly as I almost get stuck. But finally, I'm fully out of the cage.  
  
"Come on. We gotta get out of here." T-bone say, a dark frown on his face. I nod, and as T-bone signals to me, I crawl up on his wide, strong back, holding on to whats left of his G-suit. Then without a warning, he leaps off. Through the room, and out the nearest window that works as entry and exit for some of the creatures that come around here. Why they come, I don't know.  
  
I take one last look as the enormous building disappears behind us, T-bone leaping from one solid root to the next. I feel bad about leaving the kats that are still in there...but right now we both need time to get our strength back. To rest. And to plan.  
  
"We'll come back." I whisper.  
  
"That's a promise."  
  
-----------------------------------------------------------------  
  
It is late night when I wake up. Sitting up, I look around. T-bone isn't there. I remember him saying he needed to try and find some food for us, preferrably non-mutated. A cold chill run down my spine, despite the fact that T-bone managed to find me a pair of jeans and a much too large T-shirt after our escape. Then suddenly, I see him.  
  
"I ssssee you have gotten properly clothed." Dr. Viper smirks as he stands in the shadows of the room, his eyes glowing like lanterns with a cold, menacing flare. I narrow my eyes and growl, getting up in a crouch, ready to attack.  
  
"I would not do that, if I were you, my pet." he drawls at me lazily, his long tail swaying warningly. I spit angrilly at his words.  
  
"I am no *pet* of yours, Viper!" I sneer, extending my claws. I remember my beast-state, and that his creations had the fault of getting me turned into one. I want him to pay! I want to attack him, to rip out his throat, to bury my fangs in that tempting neck, to bathe my claws in his still beating heart as I rip it out of his....  
  
I shake my head wildly. What the heck is wrong with me!? Why am I getting these thoughts!? Why-...  
  
"What's the matter, lieutenant?" Viper says calmly. "Getting...unnatural thoughtsss and cravingssss?" he grins, his tongue playing between his lips. I snarl, and suddenly, I *POUNCE*!!  
  
He leaps aside easily, and just as I land on the floor, I yelp as his tail connects with my side, sending me flying into a wall. He laughs disdainfully as he now stands above me, eyes seeming to get an even more powerful glowing in the dark. Then again, he's crazy...lunatics get that kind of creepy looks....  
  
"My dear, dear lieutenant Feral." Viper chuckles at me. "You really think you are free? Believe me, you are far from out of the woodssss yet." I snarl, slashing after him with my claws. He kicks out and hits my gut, making me curl up on the ground. Damn, I could have sworn he's gotten a third claw or something....strangely enough, it doesn't hurt.  
  
************************************  
  
I jerk awake at sudden, gasping, my eyes wide. T-bone looks up from a small make-shift fire he has constructed, trying to light it up. But its kinda hard with the enormous claws he got now, instead of normal paws and fingers.  
  
"You OK Felina?" he asks me. I only nod briefly, brushing my fingers through my damp bangs. "Nightmare..." I utter quietly. T-bone gives a small nod, then returns to try and lit the fire. I watch him for a while, then I take the matches from him and stroke one, the small flame greedily eating into the dry wood. T-bone looks to me sheepishly, and I only chuckle.  
  
"It works better when you got normal hands...no offence." I state. He only shakes his head and curls up next to the fire, enjoying the warmth of it. I sigh and curl up myself, staring into the flames. I wonder what has happened to kats other places....  
  
Uncle Ulysses...I wonder if he made it out of here...  
  
I hope he did.  
  
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Viper looks up as I come in. I snuck away when I was sure T-bone was fully asleep, and Viper doesn't seem the least bit surprised that I have come back. A grim smirk sneaks over his muzzle when he sees me, and he turns around from his work-table. I try not to let out a startled sound as I see his changed form in the light. Before, I have only seen him in strange, dim shadow....  
  
I remember when seeing him like some large monster from a Siamese monster- movie... his back is covered in dark-green scales, from his neck to the tip of his tail, the underside in aquagreen and mint-green stripes, his face in the same green color as it was before his monster-mutation. His eyes have a dark ring around them, giving him a more sinister look, and his feet have gained an extra toe. His claws too, look more vicious. I can't help but wonder if they can extract acid like they could when he was enormous...I note vaguely that he has a sort of "mane" of spikes down his back, going out in a stegosaurus-like fashion at the tip of his tail, which is most likely poisonous. The horns he had on his chin though, have disappeared.  
  
"Ssssso, lieutenant Feral...You have returned." his voice interrupts my thoughts briefly, as he lazily crosses his arms. Despite of the spikes, he still wears his trade-mark labcoat. I briefly note he also seems taller, his entire structure seeming more muscular...more kat-like than reptillic in the way he stands, where he was so hunched over before. I glare at him coldly, clenching my hands.  
  
"I know you did something to me, Viper.." I growl, my eyes narrowing. "You turned me back into a kat...why!?" A grin sneaks its way across his features, his eyes narrowing as he watch me. "Do I really have a reassson to tell you, lieutenant?"  
  
In one second flat, I have him nailed to the floor, my fangs bared. I growl deep in my throat, extending my claws. I can feel the blood pulsating in his throat, I can smell a salty whiff of sweat from him, I hear his breathing as he calmly glares at me with his bright, golden eyes...kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!!!!  
  
In a swift move, he strikes. He kicks out with one leg, kneeing me in the gut and sending me tumbling off the floor. Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!!! What is happening to me!? Why are these thoughts haunting me!?  
  
Kill! Kill! Kill! Sweet flesh...I wonder how his flesh will taste on my tongue...kill..kill...must..kill...  
  
Hunger...feed....I am starving...I vaguely remember I haven't eaten for days...kill...food...want food...  
  
Fish on the floor...I grab it in my claws and shove it in my mouth, ripping into it with my teeth, ignoring the sharp fish-bones, hissing as I do so. Hunger...vanishing...good...good fish.....  
  
"You underssstand now why you came back, lieutenant?" Viper tells me as I eat.  
  
"The beassst in you obeysss me, and ssso you felt a need to return to me, your masssster."  
  
I look up at him, feeling pieces of the fish dripple from my chin. Slowly, I wipe the gooey mess off my face with one arm, and I realize what just happened...I lost control...I went from being a more or less sane being, to a ferocious, crazy animal.... Viper grins at me.  
  
"What do you want from me?" I growl lowly. Viper chuckles, crossing his arms.  
  
"A bargain. I need you to find ssssomething.....or rather, sssomeone for me....interessssted?"  
  
"Why should I ever be interested in making a bargain with scum like you?" I sneer, then stop myself. Anger makes my instincts take over again...and I hate the feeling of loosing control...  
  
"Becausssse..." Viper says calmly, tapping 2 claws against his left arm. "The mutagen I injected into you, which turned you normal, isss not permanent. It will only lassst for 72 more hoursssss. And then, you will become a beasssst once more. A wild animal with no control over yoursssself at all. And we all know how the dear lieutenant hatessss to lose control now, don't we?"  
  
Kats, can he read my thoughts now too!?!? I stare at him, knowing my eyes are filled with hatred and disgust. So thats his plan!? To remutate kats, but only temporarely so he can toy with them afterwards!? The mere thought disgusts me to no end... but so does the thought of being nothing but an animal...a creature with no control at all......no knowledge of telling friends and foes from one another...  
  
No way of telling if the next kat I kill in my uncontrollable rage could be my uncle....  
  
I bow my head slowly, my hair hiding my face from his view as I slowly grit my teeth.  
  
"What's the bargain?"  
  
----------------------------------------------------  
  
TBC 


	9. Midnight Madness

Chapter 9: Midnight Madness  
  
A/N: I am SO sorry, I had trouble with a round of stupid writers-block. Just recently I got the idea for this chapter! Hope you forgive me!

-------------  
  
Night had fallen over MegaSwamp City once more after long day where few survivors struggled to live through just to get their next meal, and creatures had hunted for the flesh of these leftovers of the Katkind that had once ruled the mighty metropolis. The mutated insects shrilled with their night-song through the air that was completely enveloped in a thick, poison-green fog that wouldn't disappear until morning.  
  
Inside the large behemoth of a mutated mixture of various trees and vines that had once been MegaKat Towers, was the home of Doctor Viper. But not just that. Also the creatures he spawned to do special services for him, like the recently turned Felina Feral, had their nests and places for the nocturnal ones of the creatures to rest in the daytime. But it was night, and so the nocturnal plantimals where out, hunting for anything edible to eat, mating with whatever of their own strange species created they could find or search of new territories.  
  
The creator of all this, Doctor Viper, felt satisfied. He had accomplished this in a single night, and had kept a grip on his swamp through 5 successful years. One day, he thought, he would perhaps even succeed in not just taking over an entire city, but the whole world would become his pandemonium, his playground, all in his image of a wonderful, beautiful swamp, where no one was suffering, where there were no diseases, no hunger, no wars. Just the plain, raw, laws of nature.  
  
Somewhere, a creature screamed as it was being devoured by a giant Venus Flytrap. Viper smirked.  
  
Eat or be eaten. The strongest is the one to live, the weakest is the one to perish.  
  
Turning away from the balcony he had overviewed the swamp from, he regarded his surroundings. What had once been a conference-room had been changed into his private bedrooms, a large bed of various soft leaves and plants and vines in the midst, large enough for 5 people to lay in, side by side. A low hiss escaped Viper as he headed inside, his long elastic tail swaying slowly behind him, ready to be used as a weapon should something surprise him. But no, there were no threats. Viper chuckled to himself at the mere thought.  
  
He remembered how he exactly 6 years ago had been betrayed by Dark Kat. The purple-furred Behemoth had lied to him as well as the Metallikats, in order to achieve his own goals of his private Dark Kat City. Viper had been furious when he had overheard the purple kat brag about his plans to his creeplings.  
  
Stepping out from his private chambers and heading down the corridor, he absentmindedly stroked his hand over the various plants and mosses growing on the wall. A door emerged out of the wall and he calmly stepped through it, his golden eyes narrowing with a cold gleam as he regarded the residents of the chamber.  
  
Dark Kat was tied to the wall, looking as miserable as ever. Lack of proper food and excorsize, for not to mention the torture Viper had put him through, had left him in a very sad state. His clothes had been ripped to pieces long ago, only leaving enough to cover his shoulders and around his waist in a simple loinclothe. He shivered with fever and managed a weak, tired gaze at Viper before dropping his head once more, the once fiercely orange-glowing eyes with nothing but a weak flicker. 2 years, the mighty Megalomaniac had managed to survive in the Swamp Metropolis, and only 3 years ago he had been captured by Vipers plantimals and brought to their master. Oh what fun it had been for the reptilian scientist to laugh and taunt at Dark Kat, while the Megalomaniac had threatened him with all the plagues and horrors of torture in the world.  
  
And here Dark Kat was now, reduced to nothing but a weak, scarred shell. Viper smirked grimly. That was about to change soon.  
  
At the other end of the room was the Pastmaster, imprisoned in a cage made of various plants and vines growing from the ceiling and floor until connecting with one another, trapping him completely. As he was immortal, he had no need for food or water, and his magic abilities made him immune to Vipers experiments. Viper however had found other use for him. Without his watch, the Pastmaster could do nothing, and so Viper kept the watch locked away somewhere in his private chambers. On occasion Viper would catch another survivor who had yet to get under Vipers 'special treatment', and Viper would have the Pastmaster read the kats thoughts in search for one particular she-kat. One time, he had caught a glimpse of her, but the she-kat had disappeared from that place she had been at long ago, and was thus nowhere to find.  
  
The kat who had told him of this had been served as frog-dinner.  
  
Viper was looking for this particular she-kat for a special reason. A part of him knew that she-kat from somewhere, but how he had somehow long forgotten. But he knew her name, her past, what they had together and what good she could do for him.  
  
Afterall, any ruler of a kingdom would need an heir, correct?  
  
And this was the reason he was in this chamber now, pulling out a syringe with a purple-green liquid inside it, pulling off the safety cap. He grinned mischeaviously at Dark Kat who roared out in pain as the reptillian scientist jammed the syringe into his chest and into his heart, emptying the syringe to its fullest before pulling it out and stepping back with a cold grin as he watched his serum take effect.  
  
Snarling, Dark Kat pulled, twisted and thrashed around in the vines that held him captured, his eyes once again with their fierce orange glow like they had always had in the days before MegaSwamp City. His veins and muscles seemed to grow in tremendous size, pulsing like writhering snakes below his skin and fur, which was turning into a sickening color of grey- brown and black-green, his skeletal mouth opening in a bloodcurling howl!  
  
Viper stepped back, but only to give space for the transformation. His eyes narrowed with a vicious glow, and he laughed and laughed and laughed......  
  
-------------  
  
Kathy jerked awake with a hoarse gasp, sitting up straight. She blinked a few times before checking her surroundings. A feeling like icy claws trailed over her skin, and she rubbed her arms and shoulders and sides to get rid of the sensation, shivering. Not in fear, not in anger, but anxiety.  
  
She didn't know what was wrong, but somehow she knew, that something terrible would be coming soon...  
  
Neither of her companions had been disturbed by her restless movements. Jake and Callie lay sleeping close together, and David was near Kathy's as well. Turmoil had the watch at the moment. Slowly, Kathy got out of bed, on the way grabbing onto her Desert Eagle. The sensation of the cold, heavy steel in her hand gave her a sense of comfort she was satisfied with, and the shivering, icy-clawed sensation disappeared.  
  
As Turmoil adknowledged her presence, she turned where she sat with an AK- 47 Kalashinikova assault rifle in her lab. Kathy only nodded to her and settled next to her, silent and thoughtful. Turmoil could sense she was in no mood to talk and left her be, continuing with polishing the weapon. Kathy was satisfied enough with this. After a few days travel with the russian female, Turmoil had turned out to be a worthy companion. Jake and Callie still didn't trust her, and both Kathy and David where on their guard. But unlike the former SWAT Kat and deputy mayor, they where much better at hiding it.  
  
What mattered was not who was who's enemy. What mattered was survival, and getting out of this cursed metropolis.  
  
'Keep your friends close and your enemies closer.' Kathy thought to herself.. Her gaze wandered off absently at the horizont as she looked over the plantcovered skyscrapers and listened to the sounds of the various creatures doing theirs to survive, or their struggle to do so.  
  
Was there any other survivors out there? she wondered; if so where were they? And did they have a desire to be found at all?  
  
Only time would tell.  
  
If they had any time left at all.  
  
---------------------------------------  
  
In the grand building that had once been MegaKat Hospital, plantlife had taken over completely. Vines writhered and snaked in and out across floors, walls and door-openings, making exit and entrance impossible.  
  
Which was perfect after Vipers opinion.  
  
He had arrived at the hospital late at night, his trusted fungus-creature carrying a large, concealed cage, wherefrom you could hear a vicious snarling like that from a tasmanian devil trapped in a corner.  
  
"Perfect..." Viper hissed satisfied, tapping his fingers against eachother. As they arrived at one of the large windows of the old hospital, he motioned to the fungus-creature to set down the cage. In only a few minutes, the plants would wither and die, giving the prisonor of the cage free access to the outside world. A perfect watchdog for Vipers many chemicals he had stored here. A sinister grin cruised Vipers lips as he watched the process unfold of the creatures escape.  
  
It snarled and roared as it finally escaped its prison, then it turned and bellowed a roar at Viper, its orange-golden eyes flaming viciously as it bared a maw with daggered fangs. Viper bared his own fangs and snapped with his tail, a clear crack like from a whip sounding through the night- air. The creature stopped its threatening attitude and cowered, whimpering in a subdued manner. Viper narrowed his eyes in satisfaction and pointed to the darkness behind the beast.  
  
"Go. Guard thisss place. Kill any intrudersss unless they ssserve me. You will know if they do."  
  
The beast did not hesitate and set off into the dark with a malicious sneer. Viper grinned.  
  
"Like I told you once before, my dear Dark Kat....Doctor Viper playssss second fiddle to no one.They play sssssecond fiddle to me!"  
  
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TBC


	10. Turmoil: Serenade of Hell

Chapter 10: Turmoil: Serenade of Hell

So sorry I took so long in writing this, but I had a writers block . Anyway... Chapter 10 is Turmoils POV. I know alot of other authors like to picture her as nothing but a bitch who wants her revenge on T-bone for betraying her. I on the other hand, decided to try and hit a more deeper part of her. Enjoy.

It has finally started to rain again. I'm the one on guard-duty this night, the SWAT Kat being the next one. He will probably need some help from the dear Deputy Mayor. Feh.

SWAT Kat...the mere name makes me think back of the time when I tried to conquer MegaKat City, with my troop of female pilot-squadrons. And of...

My thoughts are blissfully interrupted as I hear steps behind me, and I quickly grasp my rifle. I recognise the tall form of Kathy though, and my shoulders slump as I relax. She regards me calmly, giving me an authorative questioning nod I know well.

"Nothing has happened the past 2 hours." I tell her with my singing russian-american accent. She responds with another nod, before she sits down next to me, taking another rifle I had just cleaned up. She examines it before giving a satisfied nod, then settles properly. I watch her for a moment, then we both settle our eyes on the rain outside. It drums peacefully against the roof of the apartment we have settled in this night.

Kathy...she is a strange woman. It is obvious she was not an authorative figure back before this..catastrophe. But she has quickly adapted to her surroundings, which is good. A trait with a result that deserves respect from any male or female that might be encountered. When I was taken in stealing from their food supply (I say "stealing" now. Heh. Back then, I had considered it great luck to have found such a massive food-supply. I was too starved to feel the urge to use any civilized terms), she kept her head cold and clear. I could sense the authority and power surround her like an aura even then. I guess that's what kept me from attacking.

But it certainly didn't keep that foolish tom from pouncing on me as soon as he recognised me. I didn't recognise him fully before he had me nailed to the floor and I could recognise the colors in the dark of the room. He had my arm twisted on my back, and I know he took pleasure in it despite how he never really encountered me back when... Feh, no use in thinking of such things... I only remembered the pain that flashed through my arm. Back in the old days, I had been trained to withstand any sort of pain. But days filled with starvation and disorientation had me let out a strangled cry. That is when I first felt the power of the Boxab.

"Enough! Jake. Leave her be." She barked sharply. I just managed to gaze up at her, writhering in agony. The SWAT Kat glared at her. Though I could not see it, I could feel the defiance in the gaze he sent her.

"Leave. Her. Be." The woman repeated, her eyes narrowing with a clear warning. The SWAT Kat looked like he was ready to growl like a rabid police-dog cheated for getting a chance to bite into the criminal it had just caught, but he released me and got up, stepping away. As soon as I got free, I quickly got turned so I was on my back and scrambled away. Now the blonde female was suddenly aiming her own rifle at me.

"Don't move!"

"Callie. You leave her alone too." The Boxab said sharply.

"She has all rights to be ready to defend herself!" Jake spoke up, and I recognised his voice as that of the thin SWAT Kat. I don't know why, but that moment I could only thing of one thing... where was his mask?

"That woman is Turmoil! She terrorized MegaKat City a few years before this!"

"I know who she is." came the cold, clear response. "I have watched news too you know. But in case you have forgotten, there is no difference between any of us in this hellhole." I now kept my eyes on her as she spoke. Her voice was not raised, but you could still feel the aggravation within her tone as she spoke. But her gaze was like her voice. Cold and clear like a sunny winter's day. The voice of a commander.

A young boy stood next to her, and I could easily guess that the 2 where related. He couldn't be that old... 10, perhaps 11 years old. A scrawny boy for his age, the kind of boy who should be enjoying full, healthy meals to grow strong, get smarter by doing homework, and have a good childhood by playing or watching cartoons and whatever american children do. In my day we didn't have such luxury, but we heard stories of how children where in the Land of Freedom. Shows what we know.

The boy was like his mother, his green eyes cold and clear in alert. I decided to take my chances and perhaps have him think I was not that bad... I was once, perhaps, but this moment I was more concerned for my own interest of survival. But having been alone for as long as I have in this nightmare of a city, I was halfway through my pleadings before I realised I was speaking in russian. I vaguely recalled how I had been talking to myself, just to hear a decent voice. And perhaps so I wouldn't forget it either. I had been telling myself the old stories, of Tsar Zaltan, the tale of the Dead Princess, The Snow Maiden. And I had been singing my country's old songs, the Kalinka, the Cossack lullaby, the Dubinuska and the Glorious Baikal.

The woman calmly kneeled down and regarded me with a calm, examining look, while I regarded her with an alert and watchful look. Then she spoke, this time in a more gentle tone than the one she had used for her comrades.

"Its alright." she said. "We are not going to hurt you."

"...How can I be sure of that?" I managed to respond, side-glancing at the SWAT Kat and blonde she-kat, both regarding me with cold, loathing glares, rifles aimed. The woman looked to the 2 and gives an annoyed sound, gritting her teeth.

"Alright, that is enough with the both of you!" She snapped, standing up. She pointed at them both. "Both of you are to go to bed. You too David. I will have a word with her."

Again, the SWAT Kat glares at the Boxab with the look of a rabid policedog getting cheated for the pleasure of biting and ravaging its prey.

"Kathy.."

"NOW!"

With glares at the both of us, the 2 shuffle off along with the young boy who looks to the woman with a calm, but concerned look. She only gives him a look and a nod. Then he nods back and leaves.

"Now.." she says, reaching a hand out to help me on my feet. "Let's get you something to eat. The food in the cans taste better when warmed."

Warm food... I can't remember the last time I was treated with such... Except maybe in Alkatraz. I myself was never a terribly good cook. Only food I remember how to cook are cold, long-lasting rations. And even so you need water and flour for such. And in this 'hellhole' like the Boxab called it... flour would be a gift from the gods, and clean, unpoisoned water would be a blessing.

Half an hour later, we sit by the fire the Boxab made to heat the meal. I give an exhausted, sated sound as I put down the fork in the dish I ate of and lean back against the wall. I note that she looks at me calmly with those green eyes of hers. In the light from the fire and the half-darkness from the room, they glimmer like emeralds.

"Do you want more?" she asks. I shake my head.

"No thank you."

She only nods and we sit in silence. For once... it's a good kind of silence. I take my time to look around the place... study the weapons that lay ready for use, the door to the room where her comrades are asleep or awake and waiting for something catastrophic to happen. Finally, I decide to ask the question that's been bugging me for a bit now.

"Why?" I say, looking at the woman. "Why did you stop them from attacking me?" she looks up at me again. There's a strange glint in her eyes I can't judge. It's got the intensity of the hard shine you see in a jewel in a candle-light. A chill runs down my spine.

"No one in this hellhole can be judged by their past." she says. "We're all doomed unless we stick together."

"Even though I held the city's sky hostage for 2 million gold per week?"

"You should have settled it for per 4rth week. Give the Katizens time to actually earn enough money."

I looked thoughtful on that, and a bit surprised. Had she actually given me suggestions on how to work out a crime?

"Hmm... I never thought about that..." All the Boxab did was chuckle a bit.

"Last I heard, you where in Alkatraz." She then said, her expression serious once more. "How did you escape?" It didn't take me long to answer that one.

"The vines, and monsters that the insane doctor created.." I said. "They spread all the way to Alkatraz. I don't know how they could resist the saltwater. But nonetheless, they did, and they wrecked havoc. I was lucky. I was in a restrainment-cell, while everyone else got slaughtered. I only managed to get out of my cell because the wall into my prison was wrecked apart by the earthquake, that the giant vines created when they burst out of the ground. Took me 3 days to get from the island to the mainland. The creatures have even infected the bay now..." I gave a shudder at the memory. "It was a miracle I found a boat with a working engine..and even then, I still had encounters with some of the creatures in the bay. I think few of them used to be fellow prisonors..."

I don't know how long I sat and talked to her of this. But I knew that it was good to have someone to talk to again. Eventually, I managed to eat a bit more of the food, still talking... and eventually I started to feel warm and comfortable, like I hadn't for a long time. Slowly, I could feel my eyes droop, and I fell asleep by the fire, feeling safe for the first time in a long time...

The rain has stopped now, leaving behind a damp, heavy smell of green and water that makes me think of a tropical jungle. Kathy has been silent for a long while, and the same with myself. We've both been deep in our thoughts without a doubt, though still keeping an eye out on everything. The moon is slowly coming out, casting a pale, blue-white light over everything, glimmering slightly from the water and to every surface that has been covered by the rain. But that soon ends as well, for the tropical heat there is this night slowly makes the water evaporate, turning it into that wellknown poison green fog. A toad croaks somewhere. A cricket sings it's serenade. Another joins it. And another. And another.

Soon, sounds from every creature and plant surrounds us in the night. Insects, mutated creatures, hunters attacking their prey. The prey screaming out its last dying breath before it is devoured.

"The serenade of Hell..."

"Hm?" I look to Kathy as I hear her speak. She sits, thoughtfully looking to the sky with a dark expression.

"The serenade of Hell." She repeats. "It sounds beautiful in its own strange way...but it's also treacherous...it hides what sounds that come close...makes ambushes easy."

I only give a nod and a light grunt in agreement. Then we both sit, listening.

Listening to the Serenade of Hell.

TBC

Note: Boxab supposed to be russian for "leader".


End file.
